Story by Troy Taysom • Photographs by Nisha Henderson

[su_dropcap style=”light”]A[/su_dropcap] mariner sailing in uncharted waters runs the risk of hitting a reef, running aground, or becoming lost and suffering an immense hardship. The mariner takes these risks because the reward of discovery and achievement far surpass the hardship required to be the trailblazer. Being a trailblazer and navigating uncharted waters is what officer Nisha Henderson lives for. Henderson is the very first female member of the Utah County, Utah, Metro SWAT Team and is blazing a trail not only for herself, but for other female officers.

Reared in the shadow of the Beehive State’s Wasatch Mountains, Henderson grew up shooting, hunting and spending time in the outdoors with her parents and siblings. Henderson loved girlie things, but always had an affinity for guns and shooting. She was given her first gun, a Browning .243 bolt-action rifle, by her father when she was just 10 years old. From that day forward Henderson has loved shooting, hunting, hiking, camping and fishing in the canyons of Provo, Utah.

In the 1980s, Provo experienced devastating floods. These disastrous times had a lasting impact on Henderson, who as a young girl saw the police in action helping citizens deal with the overflowing banks of the Provo River. These acts of service inspired her to pursue a career in law enforcement. After high school, she earned a bachelor’s degree of science in sociology from the University of Utah, and upon graduation, worked with juvenile offenders before moving to Killeen, Texas, with her-then husband, a soldier in the US Army. While in Texas, Henderson met a recruiting sergeant from the Killeen PD at a career fair who strongly encouraged Henderson to apply and test for a patrol position. She did and was hired.

Working her patrol beat provided experiences that would drastically alter the way Henderson saw the world. She was assigned one of the more dangerous beats in the city and learned firsthand what drugs, alcohol and bad choices can do to people’s lives. She spent much of her time dealing with prostitutes, drug dealers, drug users and the homeless. This required her to be a quick study when it came to enforcing the law.

Her time in Killeen allowed her to meet people who needed her help. She told me of an old couple who would go for a walk in the wee hours of the morning. Nothing she said would keep them from this tradition, so she made sure they would inform her if their schedule ever changed. While patrolling, she always made sure to check on them.

Her patrol time was not without sad moments. Henderson was dispatched to an address where she recognized the complainant as the girlfriend of one of her fellow officers. The woman was too distraught to speak; she simply pointed at the garage. Inside, Henderson found the body of a coworker who had committed suicide days earlier. Scenes like these leave an indelible memory.

The inside of Henderson’s patrol car sports Hello Kitty floor mats and flower-shaped air-freshener vent clips. She also rocks pink handcuffs. On the gear shifter, she carries hair scrunchies and her perfectly manicured nails and makeup added to her already very feminine appearance. Maintaining her femininity means a lot to her.

Not all her experiences were so personally traumatic. She told me about an active-duty soldier who picked up a prostitute right in front of Henderson. She performed a traffic stop and informed the soldier that the female prostitute was really a male prostitute, and that it was best if the soldier never came back.

After going through a divorce, Henderson was looking for a way to return to Utah with her growing boys. With nothing in Killeen holding her back she began searching for a job in Utah County. An opening with the Provo PD provided her with the perfect opportunity. She worked her final shift in Killeen on a Thursday and reported for duty in Provo the following Monday.

The Provo PD has proven to be a great fit for Henderson, and she is excelling as a senior patrol officer, but when she started, she was only the third female officer in a department of 107.

I spent a Friday night riding with Henderson and she is not like any other police officer I have ever met. When she exited her patrol car to greet me, I was struck by her presence. Henderson exuded confidence, but not cockiness. I immediately felt at ease with her and never thought that she was pretending to be someone that she wasn’t.

Henderson takes pride in knowing the people on her beat and treats everyone with respect. She’s solved several cases thanks to her ability to appeal to either the suspect or victim on a personal level.

Once in Provo, Henderson set her sights on becoming a member of their SWAT team which is comprised of officers from Provo PD, Orem PD, Brigham Young University PD and Utah Valley University PD. The two universities have a combined enrollment of close to 80,000 students. Wanting to be a member of the team and actually becoming one are two very different things, especially since the team had never had a female before. In order for this to happen Henderson would have to be as good as the male officers, and maybe even a little bit better. “I began preparing for the team as soon as I was hired on. I intended to try out in the spring of 2013, but was injured in January of that year, so I couldn’t do it,” she said. “My recovery took five months, but as soon as my doctor gave me the OK, I began training rigorously. Ten months before tryouts, I started exercising at least twice a day and sometimes three. I would run in the morning, do Crossfit in the afternoon and would dedicate three days a week to weight training,” she continued. “I spent many hours not only on the range, but also working on speed reloading and dry firing at home during pizza and movie nights with
my boys.”

If you don’t know what Crossfit is, I can only explain it as some medieval form of torture that has been resurrected and used to get people into extremely good physical condition. I can also tell you that Henderson, who stands an athletic 6 feet tall, is in as good if not better shape than officers 10 years her junior. She runs a 9:08-minute mile and a half, can do 50 push-ups in a minute, deadlift 295 pounds and bench press her bodyweight. No, I didn’t ask her how much that was; I didn’t want to get my butt kicked. How many 12-year-old boys can tell their friends that their mom practices speed reloads and dry fires her Glock while watching movies? I’m sorry, but that is just straight-up cool and bad to the bone.

Nisha Henderson is able to be sympathetic without being emotional, empathetic while remaining professional and human while still enforcing the law and making unpopular decisions when required.

When it came time for SWAT tryouts, Henderson was prepared. She had prepared physically and attended SWAT monthly training sessions to get familiar with what she would be doing. More importantly, she prepared mentally. While the training is physically demanding, the majority of candidates wash out because they aren’t mentally tough enough to endure the physical pain, criticism and sleep deprivation. Mental toughness is taking that next step when your body says, “I can’t do it.”

SWAT training was brutal. On the second day the team was performing spider-man drops. This consists of a team member on top of a shipping container and another below to help the team member coming down. The member on top lays flat and then hangs off of the box with one leg dangling and the other still on top. When the member is ready, he or she swings the last leg off and drops. The team member below is supposed to catch the other officer. The teammate on the ground got blood in his eye as Henderson dropped. She fell to the ground, landing on her M4, and suffered multiple micro fractures to her right arm. The doctor told her that her training and tryout was over. She said no and made him print up a waiver. She finished the course shooting left-handed, her weak hand – and made the team.

Henderson is the first person to tell you that her team rallied around her; otherwise, she would not have made it. They had to help draw her handgun and reholster it, but in the real world this is exactly what would happen if a team member was injured during an operation. You do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission.

Henderson made it and is now assigned to the entry team. As part of her kit she uses a Glock 17 Gen 4 as her sidearm and an M4 with a 10-inch barrel as her primary weapon.

It would appear that all of Henderson’s time is taken up between SWAT and being a patrol officer, but she has found time to become certified as an instructor in a women’s self-defense program called Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) that helps empower women to fight against would-be attackers as well. She is also a mother of twin sons, whom she helps with their newfound love of the Boy Scouts. The night that I rode along with her, our shift ended at 7 a.m., the same time that a “merit badge pow wow” started for her sons. She left the station, changed out her uniform, and spent the day teaching the law merit badge course.

Provo PD’s new chief, John King, told me, “In addition to being a member of our SWAT team, Officer Henderson has distinguished herself by her work as a patrol officer. She takes pride in knowing the people on her beat and treats everyone with respect. She has solved several cases because of her ability to appeal to either the suspect or victim on a personal level. She is obviously one of the most physically fit individuals on the department and makes excellent use of combining her physical strengthen, her femininity and her professional skills to proudly represent our department. As she advances in her career, she’ll undoubtedly set more firsts for women here, and those selections will be based on the merits of her work.”

Henderson is a trailblazer, and not just because she is a female, although that is part of it. She represents what we want all of our police officers to be. She is concerned about the people who she refers to as “her” citizens. She is able to be sympathetic without being emotional, empathetic while remaining professional and human while still enforcing the law and making unpopular decisions when required. ASJ

Nisha Henderson, who stands an athletic 6 feet tall, is in as good if not better shape than officers 10 years her junior. She runs a 9:08-minute mile and a half, can do 50 push-ups in a minute, deadlift 295 pounds and bench press her bodyweight. (No, we didn’t ask.)

Story by Troy Taysom

[su_dropcap style=”light”]O[/su_dropcap]fficer Dan Smith of the Provo Police Department was recently awarded the 2015 National School Safety Award in Las Vegas, Nev. The award recognizes those organizations and individuals who have created safe learning environments for our nation’s youth.

Smith was the only individual officer recognized this year; the other awards went to organizations and school districts. I was curious to know what Smith was doing that made such a difference, so I met him at Dixon Middle School where he is the school resource officer.
There was a time when Dixon Middle School had less than a stellar reputation among local parents. I know this first hand as all of my sons have attended this school. Whether the reputation was deserved or not, I can’t really say, but there did seem to be an inordinate number of fights and a high number of disciplinary issues.
All that changed four years ago when Smith was assigned to Dixon along with Principal Jarrod Sites. Both Smith and Sites were determined to change the attitude and restore a safe environment conducive to learning.
Smith made it abundantly clear that there’s no way he could be effective without the help and support of Sites, and the two of them, in conjunction with the other staff and faculty members are in constant communication about issues and ideas and how these relate to their goals of a safer school environment for all the kids.

Principal Jarrod Sites with Officer Dan Smith of the Provo police department. Building hearts and minds, one student at a time.

When it comes to disciplining a student the principal rarely makes a decision without speaking with Smith first because he values his input and knowledge of the students and their backgrounds. Smith said that sometimes suspension is the worst thing for a student because it keeps them away from school and potentially subjects them to poor exterior influences. There are some things they all have a zero tolerance for: guns, drugs and physical violence are just a few of the things that will get the student a pair of silver friendship bracelets courtesy of Dan Smith.

More than anything, Smith emphasized the need to keep the kids in school and keep them engaged. The most at-risk youths are the ones who go home to empty houses and don’t stay engaged. After-school programs are paramount to help save kids from a life on the streets.
During the summer months when the kids are out of school, Smith conducts home visits and follows up with at-risk students. Constant contact with the kids helps them see Smith as a resource and not an adversary. These close relationships has helped Smith prevent crimes before they happen as opposed to investigating the aftermath. Proactive rather than reactive is the motto here.

SRO Dan Smith stays in touch with his school kids during off season summer months.

Smith and Sites have an open-door policy. This isn’t a lip-service open-door policy; this is real. Dan told me about a student that had an anger-management problem and was prone to screaming and cussing in the classroom if something upset him. By the book—the student could have been suspended, but Smith felt that this would actually be detrimental so, Smith encouraged the student to come to his office when he felt like screaming and cussing. The student did and Smith allowed him to scream and cuss to his heart’s content. Neither actions bothered Smith, a 10 year veteran of law enforcement, and soon the student found different coping mechanisms.
Smith loves his job, but heartbreak and tragedy are also part of the deal. He has had to deliver more than one death notice to families of students at his school. It is especially hard when the death occurs because of a suicide. Smith has spent four years in this job and would love to stay forever, but department policy doesn’t allow it, so he expects to be reassigned in the near future. Since his arrival, crime at the school has plummeted, serious fights, which at one time were a weekly occurrence, now, rarely happen. Students love Smith and families now come to have picnics on school grounds, but as nice as he is, students are quick to warn each other that Smith doesn’t play games and will make an arrest if it is necessary — so behave!After Smith received the award I spoke with Sites about Smith and his contributions to Dixon Middle School. Sites said, “Four years ago, Dan and I were assigned to a struggling middle school. Perception issues, crime rates and community morale associated with the school were low. Students were performing below expectations and parents were opting to send their students to other schools in the area. From the beginning, Officer Smith worked with the community to develop a plan that changes these perceptions, and raised the expectations of kids behavior at the school. Dan met with parent groups, teachers and the administration to address concerns, seek input and to gather support.” Sites continued, “After four years of hard work, Dixon Middle School is now perceived in a positive light. Our school is rivaling the academic performance of other schools in the community, crime is down, prevention is up and students are learning at higher levels.

Under Smith’s leadership and collaboration, Dixon Middle School has transformed. His efforts are noteworthy. The relationship he maintains with the administration is more productive and successful than I have experienced in 18+ years as an educator. I believe that others need to learn from his experience and use his work model to enhance the school resource officer relationships in their own schools.”
Congratulations to Officer Dan Smith for his dedication to making a difference.ASJ

Principal Jarod Sites, Officer Dan Smith, Chief John King and Sgt. Shane Sorensen during the 2015 National School Safety Awards in Las Vegas, Nev.